This invention relates generally to equipment for handling spools of wire, and more particularly to devices for facilitating the pay-off of wire from heavy wire-carrying spools.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,647 shows a wire de-reeling device adapted to be used for pay-out of wire from a spool. In such a construction, the wire is drawn past the flange of a freely rotatable wheel and engages the bristles of a stationary tension brush, both the wheel and brush being secured to the spool adjacent one of its flanges.
The wheel and brush are both removable so as to not interfere with the storage or shipping of the spool. During installation of the brush and wheel, one flange of the spool must be raised and held in a tilted or free position, after which the pay-out of wire past this raised flange can commence.
In several previous installations, the spool was rested on one flange, with pay-out occurring vertically past the remaining free flange of the spool. While this solved the problem of providing a free flange on the spool, it provided to be awkward in that it involved rolling the spool into position, shifting it onto its end, and thereafter shifting it back, following dereeling. With larger spools, such an operation was difficult to accomplish manually.
In other cases, the spool was raised off the ground, and placed on special racks, with its axis maintained substantially horizontal. This was not always a satisfactory procedure, since the weight of the larger spools tended to be excessive. Such operations usually involved bulky structures and powerful motors or drive mechanisms to effect the necessary lifting.